Customizable fashion belt

ABSTRACT

A clip for removably retaining a frame such as a canning screw band having a pair of arms with cutaways portion adjacent an outer surface of a canning screw band increasing removability of the canning screw band from the clip. The clip has a pair of shoulders that coact to removably retain the canning screw band during use. The arms and shoulders are connected by a bridge portion spacing the shoulders such that they engage inner surfaces of the canning screw band during use. A clasp portion adjacent the bridge portion may be used for clasping another object between the bridge portion and the clasp portion. The clip may be used to attach a piece of artwork framed within a canning screw band to a typical fashion belt or a plurality of clips may be linked together with a fabric shoe string to create a unique customizable fashion belt.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to apparel belts and more particularly to fashion belts utilizing multiple parts for decorative customization.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Belt attachment structures allowing attachment of functional elements to belts have been known for quite some time. Many of the prior art belts conceived require functional elements that are specially made to fit the attachment means employed by the belt. Some of these functional attachment belts are disclosed here.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,013 issued to Johnson discloses a stabilizing belt comprising a pliable belt, means for securing the band about the waist of the forward person of a tandem pair, and at least two discrete hand grip assemblies for the rearward person of the pair. The hand grip assembly utilizes an anchor member adjustably mounted to the belt to carry a loop of material for hand gripping by the reward person.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,935 issued to Chambonnet discloses a belt structure particularly suited for carrying diving equipment having structure for securing a rigid element that further secures equipment such as a compressed air tank.

Apparel belts allowing customization to express beliefs or allegiance to a particular organization such as a sports team have also been previously conceived. These prior art belts also require pieces that are specially made to fit the connecting means employed by the belt. Some of these belts are disclosed here.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,685 issued to Grandis discloses an ornamental elasticized fabric belt having a number of ornamental discs or medallions arranged in seriatim about the band. The medallions overlap each other giving a unique and expensive appearance to the belt. As the belt is caused to expand, the medallions are caused to move with respect to each other, thus changing the appearance of the ornamentation.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,829 issued to Relaford discloses an apparel belt with decorative strips which are attachable to the outer side of the belt by a pair of socket elements which engage stud elements located along the length of the belt. The decorative strips are interchangeable and may include different letters or words thereon allowing the wearer to communicate a message.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,680 issued to Abbondandolo discloses action figures having female connections formed on the back and a belt having a plurality of male connectors so that the action figures may be attached to the belt.

Although the belts previously discussed provide means for attaching elements to a belt for functional or aesthetic purposes, the prior art still lacks an attachment structure for belts that accept items that are not specially made for attachment to another item such as a belt. To fulfill this need, the claimed invention provides a clip for retaining preexisting items that may be used to create decorative items such as a fashion belt.

As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the customizable fashion belt of the claimed invention differs from the previously proposed inventions and employs a number of novel features that render it highly advantageous over the aforementioned prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a primary object of the claimed invention to provide a clip for holding a frame, such as the canning screw band of a two-piece canning lid used with canning jars, that may be used in the construction of various arts and crafts.

It is another object of the claimed invention to provide a clip for holding a frame that may be linked with other clips to form a chain of frames.

It is further object of the claimed invention to provide a customizable fashion belt having a plurality of frames displaying decorative artwork.

To achieve these objects as well as others that will become evident after a reading of this specification and viewing the appended drawings, a customizable fashion belt is provided. The customizable fashion belt generally comprises a belt, a plurality of clips, a plurality of connector pieces and a plurality of frames framing various types of decorative inserts.

The clips comprise a pair of arms, a pair of shoulders, a pair of receiving slots, a bridge portion and a clasp portion. The arms each have a cutaway portion to facilitate easy removal of the frames and have base portions that coact with the shoulders to retain the frame within the clip. The clamp portions of the arms provide a secondary means for retaining the frame within the clip in the event that the frame is unseated from the shoulders. The shoulders are generally shaped to engage the inner walls of the frame and are spaced by the bridge portion such that the frame seats over the shoulders with a snap fit. The clasp portion forms a second clip that may be used to clip a single clip to another object such as a typical apparel belt. The clip may be used to create other decorative objects such as wall hangings and refrigerator magnets.

The frames have at least one side member that frame inserts displayed within the display aperture of the frames. The frames may take the form of canning screw bands used with canning jars giving the fashion belt a unique appearance and provides the additional feature of using a preexisting uniform utilitarian item that 29 million homes already have. A customized fashion belt assembled with canning screw bands provides a fashion accessory with a novel appearance that has not been previously seen.

When the clips and frames are used to create a customized fashion belt, the belt is placed through the apertures of the connector pieces and the arms of the clips are then placed through the apertures adjacent the belt. Decorative inserts are then assembled within the frames and the frames are then clipped into place within the clips connected to the belt.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. A perspective view of a fully assembled customized fashion belt.

FIG. 2. A perspective view of a clip of the claimed invention.

FIG. 3. A perspective view of a clip assembled with belt slides.

FIG. 4. A side view illustrating assembly of the customizable fashion belt.

FIG. 5. An exploded perspective view of a canning screw band and inserts.

FIG. 6. An enlarged perspective view of a canning screw band being assembled in a clip of the customized fashion belt.

FIG. 7. An enlarged perspective view of a section of an assembled customizable fashion belt.

FIG. 8. A partial cross sectional view of a canning screw band and inserts engaged with a clip.

FIG. 9. A perspective view of a fully assembled customized fashion belt worn by a user.

FIG. 10. A perspective view of an alternate use for the clip and canning screw band assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Turning now to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the customizable fashion belt 10 generally comprising a belt 20, a plurality of clips 30, a plurality of connector pieces 40 or belt slides and a plurality of frames 50 shown in the form of canning screw bands framing various types of decorative artwork 60. The decorative artwork 60 is preferably protected by a transparent cover insert 62, and backed by a backing insert 64 shown in FIG. 5 as a canning lid. The customizable fashion belt 10 allows users to assemble a unique fashion item that displays items of particular interest to the user.

The belt 20 shown in FIGS. 1 and 9 is a shoe string type belt made of woven fabric. However, it is contemplated that belts of various size, shape and composition may be used to accomplish the objects of the claimed invention. A buckle such as the string lock 66 shown in FIGS. 1 and 9 may be used to fasten the belt 10 about the waist of a wearer. FIG. 10 shows an alternate use for the clip 30 where the clip is attached to a typical apparel belt 70.

The clip 30 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 generally comprises a pair of arms 80, a pair of shoulders 90, a pair of receiving slots 100, a bridge portion 110 and a clasp portion 120. In a preferred embodiment of the clip 30 where the clip 30 is designed to retain a typical canning screw band 50 that is sized to fit a standard canning jar mouth of about 2⅜ inches, the overall length of the clip 30 is about 3.818 inches and the overall width is about 0.625 inches with an overall height of about 0.907 inches. The typical cross sectional thickness of the clip 30 is about 0.125 inches.

The arms 80 each have a cutaway portion 130 to facilitate easy removal of the frames or canning screw bands 50 and have base portions 140 that coact with the shoulders 90 to retain the canning screw band 50 within the clip 30. The base portions 140 of the arms 80 shown in the drawings are spaced about 0.125 inches from the shoulder portions 90 to engage the outer diameter of the canning screw band 50 that is typically about 2.813 inches. The clamp portions 150 of the arms 80 extend over the top face 160 of the canning screw band 50 providing a secondary means for retaining the canning screw band 50 within the clip 30 in the event that the canning screw band 50 is unseated from the shoulders 90. The clamp portions 150 are spaced at about 0.030 inches above the top face 160 of the canning screw band 50 to allow room for removal of the canning screw band 50 from the clip 30.

The shoulders 90 are generally shaped to engage the inner threaded walls 170 of the canning screw band 50 and are spaced by the bridge portion 110 such that the canning screw bands 50 seat over the shoulders 90 with a snap fit. The shoulder portions 90 of the clip 30 shown in the drawings are spaced at about 2.656 inches apart to engage the inner walls 170 of the canning screw band 50 with a typical inner diameter of about 2.75 inches.

The receiving slots 100 are sized and shaped to receive portions 175 of the belt slides 40 that link two or more clips 30 together. The receiving slots 100 shown in the drawings are about 0.813 inches wide.

The clasp portion 120 extends generally parallel with the bridge portion 110 forming a second clip that may be used to clip a single clip 30 to another object such as a typical apparel belt 70 as shown in FIG. 10. The clasp arm 180 shown in the drawings is about 1.781 inches long creating an opening 190 of about 0.625 inches.

The connector pieces or belt slides 40 are used to link two or more of the clips 30 together when a plurality of clips 30 are used to create different items such as the customizable fashion belt 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 9. The overall width of the belt slide 40 is about 0.938 inches. Each belt slide 40 has a pair of apertures 200 that are each sized and shaped to receive the belt 20 and an arm 80 of the clip 30. The apertures 200 shown in the drawings are about 0.625 inches by 0.25 inches. A portion of the belt slides 175 fit within the receiving slots 100 of the clip 30 as shown in FIG. 3.

The frames 50 have at least one side member that frame inserts 60, 62 and 64 displayed within the display aperture 210 of the frames 50. The frames 50 shown in FIG. 1 are in the form of canning screw bands 50 designed to fit a canning jar with a 2⅜ inch open mouth. However, it is contemplated that frames of various size, shape and composition may be used to accomplish the objects of the claimed invention. The canning screw bands 50 shown in FIGS. 1 and 5-10 have a generally circular sidewall 220 with a right angled cross section 230 as shown in FIG. 8.

The inserts shown in FIGS. 5 and 8 preferably comprise a protective transparent cover insert 62, a decorative insert 60 such as a picture of a popular celebrity and a backing insert 64. The backing insert 64 shown in FIGS. 5 and 8 is a canning lid. However, it is contemplated that backing inserts of various size, shape and composition may be used to accomplish the objects of the invention, particularly when other types of frames 50 are utilized.

The customizable fashion belt 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 9 is assembled by first inserting the belt 20 through the apertures 200 of the slides 40 and then inserting the arms 80 of the clips 30 within the apertures 200 of the slides 40 adjacent the belt 20 as shown in FIG. 4. The inserts 60, 62 and 64 are then placed in the canning screw band 50 as shown in FIG. 5 with the protective transparent cover insert 62 first, the decorative insert 60 second and the canning lid backing insert 64 last. The assembled frame 240 is then placed in the clip 30 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 so that the shoulders 90 of the clip 30 hold the inserts 60, 62 and 64 against the inner surfaces 170 of the canning screw band 50 as shown in FIG. 8. This process is repeated with each frame 240 until all of the clips 30 have been filled. The resulting customized fashion belt 10 can then be worn around the waist as shown in FIG. 9.

The clip 30 of the claimed invention can also be used in many other applications such as a single decorative charm holder 250 that may be attached to an ordinary apparel belt 70 shown in FIG. 10, or may be used as a refrigerator magnet or wall hanging.

Although the invention has been described by reference to some embodiments it is not intended that the novel device be limited thereby, but that modifications thereof are intended to be included as falling within the broad scope and spirit of the foregoing disclosure, the following claims and the appended drawings. 

1. A customizable belt utilizing a frame for decoration, the belt comprising: a belt sized to fit about the torso of a user during use; a frame having a side member with an inner face and an outer face defining a display aperture through the frame; a clip for removably retaining the frame having a first arm for holding the outer face of the side member at a first point against a shoulder portion of the clip sized and shaped to engage the inner face of the side member; and a connector connecting the clip to the belt.
 2. The belt of claim 1 further comprising an insert for display through the display aperture of the frame, the shoulder portion of the clip holding the insert against the inner face of the side member.
 3. The belt of claim 2 wherein the connector has at least two apertures for receiving the belt and the arm of the clip, the clip further comprising a slot for receiving a portion of the connector.
 4. The belt of claim 3 wherein the side member of the frame comprises a substantially vertical wall connected to a substantially horizontal wall.
 5. The belt of claim 4 further comprising a second arm positioned opposite the first arm spaced such that an inner surface of the first arm and an inner surface of the second arm coact against outer surfaces of the vertical wall of the side member holding the frame, the insert held against an inner face of the horizontal wall.
 6. The belt of claim 5 wherein the first arm and second arm hold an outer face of the horizontal member.
 7. The belt of claim 6 wherein the first arm and second arm further comprise a cutaway portion adjacent the outer surface of the horizontal member increasing removability of the frame from the clip.
 8. The belt of claim 1 wherein the frame is a canning screw band, the display aperture is a canning screw band aperture and the side member is a substantially circular wall of the canning screw band having a right angle cross section, the clip having a second arm positioned opposite the first arm such that an inner surface of the first arm and an inner surface of the second arm coact against outer surfaces of the circular wall holding the canning screw band.
 9. The belt of claim 8 further comprising an insert sized and shaped to fit within the substantially circular wall of the canning screw band, the shoulder portion of the clip holding the insert against an inner surface of the canning screw band so that the insert is visible through the canning screw band aperture.
 10. The belt of claim 9 wherein the insert is a canning lid and further comprises a decorative insert adjacent the canning lid.
 11. The belt of claim 10 wherein the first arm and second arm further comprise a cutaway portion adjacent the circular wall of the canning screw band increasing removability of the canning screw band from the clip.
 12. A clip for removably retaining a canning screw band, the clip comprising: a first arm and a second arm, each arm having a base portion and a clamp portion; a first shoulder spaced at a distance apart from the base portion of the first arm coacting to removably retain a side wall of a canning screw band during use; a second shoulder spaced at a distance apart from the base portion of the second arm coacting to removably retain a side wall of a canning screw band during use; and a bridge portion connecting the first shoulder and second shoulder, the bridge spacing the first shoulder and second shoulder to engage inner surfaces of a canning screw band during use and spacing the clamp portions of the arms over the canning screw band during use.
 13. The clip of claim 12 further comprising a clasp portion adjacent the bridge portion for clasping another object between the bridge portion and the clasp portion.
 14. The clip of claim 13 wherein the first arm and second arm each further comprise a cutaway portion adjacent an outer surface of a canning screw band during use increasing removability of the canning screw band from the clip.
 15. The clip of claim 14 wherein the first arm and second arm each further comprise a receiving slot adjacent the base portions of the arms for receiving a connector piece.
 16. A multiple clip assembly for removably retaining a plurality of canning screw bands, the assembly comprising: a first clip with an arm and a shoulder spaced at a distance apart to removably retain a canning screw band during use, the clip having a receiving slot for receiving a portion of a connector element adjacent the canning screw band during use; a second clip with a second arm and a second shoulder spaced at a distance apart to removably retain a canning screw band during use, the second clip having a second receiving slot for receiving a portion of a connector element adjacent the canning screw band during use; a connector piece linking the first clip and second clip having a first aperture receiving the arm of the first clip and a second aperture receiving the arm of the second clip, the connector element having a first portion sized and shaped to nest within the first receiving slot and a second portion sized and shaped to nest within the second receiving slot.
 17. The assembly of claim 16 wherein the first aperture and second aperture of the connector piece are sized to further receive a belt during use.
 18. A kit for assembling a customizable fashion belt utilizing a frame for decoration, the kit comprising: a belt sized to fit about the torso of a user during use; a plurality of clips for removably retaining a plurality of frames during use having a first arm for holding the frame against a shoulder portion of the clip sized and shaped to engage an inner surface of the frame; at least one connector piece for connecting the plurality of clips to the belt; and a plurality of inserts for placement within a frame during use.
 19. The kit of claim 18 wherein the plurality of clips are sized to retain a canning screw band.
 20. The kit of claim 19 wherein the belt is a shoe string and the kit further comprises a string lock for securing the shoe string about the waist of a user during use. 